AI Reinventing Construction Safety: 4 Practical Applications of AI

Peak’s Decision Intelligence Maturity Index identified 92% of construction companies that said they had incorporated or planned to introduce AI for the organization.
These include AI technologies such as the following:

• Automation and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can automate various tasks. This includes administrative activities like communications, scheduling, work allocation, and more. RPA can also engage robotic and digital machinery and equipment and automate the work it has to complete.
• Sensors can work with artificial intelligence to detect anomalies, monitor temperatures, and more.
• AI infrastructure can also interact with the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT connects numerous devices across your digital network to transfer and synchronize information and manage data and information across your company.
• Predictive Analytics also works with monitoring and evaluating data. It can use data sets and actionable insights to formulate useful strategies. AI analytics can offer smart safety solutions, design safety predictive models, and guide your decision-making for future projects and safety protocols and policies.

4 Practical Ways AI Can Enhance Safety

These are four benefits of AI for safety in the construction industry. They are also practical methods to introduce and take advantage of AI for your company’s safety measures.

1. Automate More Hazardous Tasks

Robotic automation can help remove the danger and some precarious physical work from your construction workers’ scope.

Workers can focus on less risky work, reducing their proximity to situations that can cause them injury or harm. They can, for example, handle heavier weights without trouble, like the Material Unit Lift Enhancer, which can execute heavy lifting of up to 6000 pounds a day.

AI-powered robots can also function more efficiently and eliminate safety concerns that arise from human error. They use machine learning and intelligent algorithms for automation and self-learning. The nature of their data collection and evaluation means they can gather data over periods, learn from it, and improve over time.

A fantastic plus side to this is that AI robots can work in challenging conditions that may otherwise be a health hazard for human workers. This includes circumstances where production results in the emission of harmful chemicals that would affect employee health and safety.

2. Prevent Or Reduce Construction Accidents

Working hand-in-hand with the reduction of risk-heavy tasks is the benefits AI can have for accident management and prevention. Human error can lead to serious injuries and fatalities and it presents as one of the biggest reasons for accidents in construction workplaces.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, accident rates increase by 18% and injury rates by 30% during evening work and night shifts across industries. This speaks to the mental capacity of human employees and the effect it can have on their lucidity, decision-making, and productivity.

Where your business cannot introduce robotics to handle risky work, it can utilize AI to gauge employees’ ability to work.

Consider AI-powered vision technologies, which have facial recognition features that can monitor facial expressions and pick up indicators of fatigue like yawning, lowered eyelids, and more.

This can be useful in several areas of your company, including for drivers traveling long distances to transport supplies and heavy machinery, workers completing repetitive tasks on site, etc.

3. Identify Safety Hazards & Anomalies

Facial recognition technology is just one way that AI can function as a detector in safety. Wearable sensors are another fantastic way to track workers’ operational capability and ensure their well-being.

Pair devices like smartwatches with artificial intelligence so they can alert you when an employee’s vitals change, particularly when dealing with remote or lone workers.

Anomaly detection with AI can also identify health irregularities and enable individuals to address health issues early on.

In addition, AI-powered sensors can detect irregularities in workplace safety. They can pick up problematic changes in temperature, differences in behavior, equipment errors, potential hazards, etc., and give a warning well in advance.

4. Secure Your Job Sites

Construction work is nomadic and unfixed, which makes it difficult to assure construction site safety. Construction sites are unlike office spaces where security features can be installed and monitored permanently. Through a combination of AI mediums, you can create an infrastructure that enhances construction site safety.

Combine the power of AI vision, sensors, and the IoT to create a network of safety devices that keep watch over your site.

360-degree cameras and video and AI analytics can also identify individuals it doesn’t recognize through facial recognition and alert you of potential intruders.

An AI-partnered remote video surveillance system can monitor your site 24/7, reducing loitering, theft, and vandalism. It also increases your efficiency and capacity as you don’t have to find ways to secure your site and will not experience project delays due to stolen equipment and materials and other issues.

Key Takeaways

Designing competent and careful safety programs is one of the major tasks of any construction company. It ensures your employees’ well-being and allows them to remain productive without fear for their well-being and health.

Prioritizing safety can also protect you from losses and delays due to injuries, fatalities, theft, and more. Adopt AI today to get your construction company operating at its best.

References

• https://www.credera.com/insights/benefits-of-ai-increase-efficiency-enhance-safety-and-improve-reliability
• https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/artificial-intelligence/guest-article/how-ai-and-vsaas-are-improving-safety-in-the-construction-sector/
• https://www.nccer.org/newsroom/increasing-construction-site-safety-with-artificial-intelligence/
• https://www.construction-robotics.com/mule/
• https://www.osha.gov/worker-fatigue/hazards
• https://www.cxotoday.com/ashojoac/2022/10/Peak_Decision-Intelligence-Maturity-2022.pdf